


go-between

by syncwhispers



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, and he pointed out that ben and vanyas names are the first five screams, and i was like uh well shit, and i wrote this so fast, i was binging tua with a friend, vanya's wardrobe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 04:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17891552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syncwhispers/pseuds/syncwhispers
Summary: Ben has a request.





	go-between

**Author's Note:**

> me, hit by the fact that five is close to ben as well as vanya, and that he didn't find either of their bodies in the future, but one of the first things he sees upon coming back is ben's memorial statue: oh fuck
> 
> (hmu if u wanna on twitter @aesyncthetic! i'd love for some tua mutuals)

“Ha!” Klaus says. “I knew it.”

Ben gives him an unimpressed look. He’s perched on the edge of Vanya’s couch. “Since when did you develop the cognitive functions to know things?”

Klaus sticks his tongue out at him through the slightly open wardrobe door. Technically it’s supposed to be closed, but Klaus’ shed tears over his unwillingness to end up like those babies who overheat in the cars of their neglectful mothers were thankfully enough to melt Five’s merciless heart, as long as he shuts it by the time Vanya shows. He mostly started bitching because Ben didn’t want to have to be crammed in there, even though he’s a fucking ghost, and he can't suffocate, or whatever. Oh, the things Klaus does for the people he tolerates.

“Since always,” Klaus waves his hand around, but smacks it against painful wood, and spends a few seconds flapping it around in pain. “You may think I long since relinquished all control to my dick, but you simply lack the comprehension--”

Five sighs.

“-- to appreciate my genius--”

Ben flawlessly executes his god-you-are-so-much-work eyeroll, “Know what?”  

“That you aren’t some long-term hallucination my subconcious self-preservation conjured as a coping mechanism,” Klaus explains. “Because -- hey, don't look at me like that, it’s totally plausible, I read it on a Tumblr blog once-- no part of me has ever thought of purposefully initiating feelings ever, especially with--” he pitches his voice into a whisper. “Pubescent teenagers who are going through their _second_ emo phase.”

Five stops glaring at pigeons in favor of glaring Klaus, “Could you be less stoned?”

“Yes, yes,” Klaus pats his cheeks. “Sober… now. Sober… _now_!”

“Klaus,” Ben groans.

“Ughhhh.”

Five sighs, returning to his brooding. Ben stares at Klaus. Klaus shrinks into the wardrobe, pouting. Ben mouths something vaguely insulting but somewhat motivating. Klaus blows a raspberry.

Klaus squints, “So, uh. Five.”

“What?”

“Ben... says hi!" He punctuates it with happy arcade game noises. 

The Ben in question folds his arms, and mutters, “Smooth."

“Hey, hey, _listen_. How else was I supposed to phrase it, ‘Our dead brother just asked me to play glorified Ouija board like I’m in the play version of _The Exorcist_ and they replaced the actual board with a human actor like with the cow in _Into the Woods_?’”

Ben frowns, “There are Ouija boards in _Exorcist_?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s, like, half of the plot, you culturally inept--" Klaus gestures. "Thing."

Ben shrugs dismissively, “ _Exorcist_ ’s one of those pop culture things you know, but never watched.”

“Fair.”  

“This isn’t the time for jokes, Klaus,” Five says. He looks a little distraught, which starts Klaus a little. Five generally doesn’t look this... ruffled. His resting state is slight smug superiority, and his active is those knife cat memes.

“I’m not! He asked me to talk to you. Promise!”

Now Five’s actually looking at him, hands tucked in his pockets. “I thought you couldn’t conjure anymore.”

“I can’t conjure anyone else. It’s… it’s different with Ben. He’s always there. The yin to my yang. The peanut butter to my jelly, the--”

Ben inspects his nails, “The left brain to your right brain. Your last remaining brain cell.”

“Dude!”

Five scrubs his face. “Prove it.”

Klaus blinks. He looks over at Ben, mouthing, _now what_? What’s he supposed to do, hand his powers over to Five so he and Ben can have the heart-to-heart that Ben oh so desperately wants?

Ben looks down at the ground. “One time I had a nightmare about accidentally decapitating everyone with my powers. Five heard me freaking. He came into my room and tried to calm me down by telling me that it’s too unrealistic to happen since he was stronger than me and would beat me if I tried.”

“Oh, ouch,” Klaus snickers. “Wow, that’s. That’s so Five.”

Ben smiles a little. “Tell him. As, you know, confirmation, since it’s not something--” Ben sighs. “It’s not something anyone else would know.”

Klaus carefully doesn’t think about the implications of that and repeats the tale.

“Okay,” Five rubs his face. “Okay. I believe you, for now. If you’re lying I’ll put you in a dumpster. Where is he?”

Klaus points at the couch. Ben gives a little wave Five can’t see.

“All yours,” Klaus says. “I just live here.”

Ben looks up at Five. “Hi.”

Klaus picks at the dirt underneath his nails and waits for the conversation to go on without him. He looks up in bored confusion when a good five seconds pass without Five responding and finds Ben glaring at him. Ah, right. Klaus can’t believe he’s not getting paid for all of this translating he’s gotta do. Roadside fortune-tellers have it better than him.

“Ben says hi,” Klaus intones. His nails are alright. He’ll need to clip them if he wants to do anything fun. Klaus wonders if Five’ll let him out of time-out to grab one of Vanya’s clippers.

Five's fingers play with something in his pocket, eyes focused on where he thinks Ben's at. He's close. “You and Vanya were the first two people I looked for, in the future.”

“Favoritism,” Klaus blurts.

Five ignores him, “I didn’t find either of your bodies. So I convinced myself the both of you were still alive. Helped keep the thought that I was truly, utterly, alone, the last out of seven billion, at bay until I found Delores. But now I know you died before.” His gaze snaps up from some spot on the wallpaper and the vulnerability’s all gone when he looks at Klaus. “Can he hear?”

Klaus nods.

Ben blinks. He breathes, “ _Five_.” He rises, arms falling to his side before he wraps them around Five. And, aw, jeez, there’s a lump in Klaus’ throat now, even though he’s not supposed to be feeling things right now. The scene’s tragic and poetic in the way that only depressing 19th century novels are, boy and ghost and weak morning sunlight, dust in the air like scattered stars. Five’s looking at Klaus, waiting for the telephone to ring, and Klaus thinks _fuck it_ and abandons the wardrobe.

“He’s hugging you. I’m going to--” Klaus holds his arms out.

Five starts, gapes at him in horror, “What are your clothes?”

“Shh. This is supposed to be touching.”

Klaus hugs him. And Five says, “Oh,” and sags into him, with a kind of exhaustion Klaus’ all too familiar with.

“Been a while?” Klaus huffs a laugh. 

“Thirty years.”

“Your Delores wasn’t one for hugging?”

“No. Not really.”

Five closes his eyes, and Klaus gets that he’s a cranky old senior now who can probably eat half off at twenty family restaurants, but he looks small, and tired, with the purple-blue smudges under his eyes. The quiet wisp of his sigh gets stuck in Klaus' ears.

After a while, Five shifts against him, and complains, “You’re moist."

“I’ve been in the closet for a while,” Klaus says, and then snickers. “Oh wait. Ha.”

“Terrible,” Ben moans. 

Five pats Klaus' side. "Alright, enough. I can feel your sweat drying on my skin."

Ben and Klaus step back, and Ben looks down at his hands and sighs. Klaus quirks his lips at him, his touch-free version of a shoulder-check. 

"Thanks," Ben says, smiling a little back.

"Yeah. Anytime."


End file.
